I really liked this book--I felt like Card was finally headed somewhere with the series, and the pacing of the story wasn't as stilted as the first two. Red Prophet was good, but it almost seemed like two separate books--one about the Prophet and his brother and the other about Alvin. This book felt cohesive and like it was finally turning the series in some ultimate direction. Plus, I am a sucker for even the possibility of a little romance.

This one kept me turning pages, but the main reason I didn't give it four stars was because the villain Cavil Planter was waaaaaay over the top. I almost put the book down after reading the intro part--it was stomach-turning. I pushed on, though, because I already liked the series and wanted to give the rest of it a chance. I can understand why I've heard that a lot of people think Orson Scott Card is racist, even though I know that he made the villain as disgusting as possible so that we'd have a reason to hate him. Still, to even imagine that stuff is pretty nasty. I get it that the good guys are Emancipationists, but geez... come on... ugh. Planter spreading his "white seed"--barf! I hope Alvin kicks his ass later. I am probably playing right into the author's hands by saying that.

That and the whole magical Indians thing is kind of annoying, but at least the Indians were explored more in-depth as characters in their own right. I am looking forward to seeing Arthur Stuart developed more as a character later.

P. S. My husband read this book too, but he was a bit embarrassed to carry it around with Uber Muscular Shirtless Glowing Alvin on the cover. Poor guy. ( )

Good third in series. ( )

On one hand, Prentice Alvin feels quite a lot like the previous two Alvin Maker stories. We have a continuation of the alternate timeline, this time dealing with how apprenticeships and slavery work in this world. We learn more about the town where Alvin was born, which we haven't seen in a while, including Peggy--the torch who has been keeping an eye on him this entire time.

On the other hand, it doesn't feel like the story went anywhere. Alvin learns a bit more about his powers, but it's mostly shades on what he's known before. He's still weirdly good at everything. On top of that, he spends seven years apprenticing as a blacksmith--even though he's better than his master by the time he's ~13 years old. Peggy runs off, comes back disguised as an old woman, and still doesn't interact terribly much with Alvin. In end end, we come back to the town where Alvin grew up. Almost a decade has passed, but what really has changed?

One of the new aspects this time around was a storyline centering around a slave owner who, inspired by the Unmaker, has decided that he must save all of the black people by turning them white--by way of impregnating the women and selling off the resulting 'part white' offspring. It's disturbing and I'm not really sure the plot gains enough from it. Having the Unmaker convince a preacher to try to murder Alvin? Sure. This? Eesh.

Random nit: Apparently Alvin can cross a river and essentially baptise someone in the water now? I thought the entire point was that water was the element of the Unmaker and would try to kill him at any opportunity?

Related to that: Sudden modern theories of atoms and DNA are sudden. Anatomy (in the form of Alvin's healing) made sense. Cut someone open and you can see everything that Alvin can see with his powers. This feels like Card went from just letting the magic be fuzzy and unspecified to wanting a basis for how the magic actually worked. It made some sense in the more philosophical parts of the Ender sequels (since those were set thousands of years in the future). Here, in alternate history hundreds of years ago, it just doesn't feel like it fits.

Side note: A living golden plow? That's... weird.

I think I'll go ahead and continue with Alvin Journeyman, although at this point I'm no longer entirely sure why... ( )

I'd not read the first in the series - started with this one. Its OK. ( )

Alvin's apprenticeship as a blacksmith, but it is also his apprenticeship as a Maker. Very good story, but a little to graphic right at the beginning. ( )